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The Pirates’ Good Deeds - Tomorrow’s markets: How the Internet is shifting powers between artists and companies. [by Kolja Reichert]

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:42:41 +0200

“The Pirates’ Good Deeds” (© Kolja Reichert) has originally been published under the title “Die gute Tat der Piraten” in “Der Tagesspiegel” issued on 26.07.2009. Translated into German by Wolfgang Senges. Translation and publication on ContentSphere.de by courtesy of Kolja Reichert.

Please notice: Different to other articles on ContentSphere.de, this translation has been published under an “All rights reserved” licence by Kolja Reichert.

German version/original text: “Der Tagesspiegel” issued on 26.07.2009.

The New York Times’ online archive holds the oldest message in regards to the topic of piracy in music industry. It originates from 13 June 1897, the founding time of music industry. „Canadian Pirates“ mailed counterfeit records across the border and sold them for a tenth of its real price. Newspapers printed lists of songs available – a kind of early Pirate Bay. The industry bewailed a 50% loss in turnover demanding the postal sevice to filter items out. A rather mild measure compared to the three-strikes-out model the media industry longs to achieve for filesharers today.

The politics response to online piracy is not rigorous enough, claimed Dieter Gorny, CEO of Germany’s Body of Music Industry BVMI (Bundesverband der Musikindustrie) when justifying the cancellation of industry’s Popkomm conference. It’s been widely shared disconcertment his statement earned him. Mark Chung of the Body of Independent Labels VUT (Verband Unabhängiger Tonträgerunternehmen) says: „Strong generalisations are helping no one.“

Actually, Internet is not music’s enemy. It merely is the hard copy industry’s enemy. After the wax cylinder, vinyl, tape and CD, music now has been separated from a physical carrier and can be copied endlessly with little effort. Legal downloads in Germany do not yet reach US numbers that account for 39% of the market. However, first quarter revenues in 2009 are up again by 16%. Despite all arguments dealing with illegal downloading, it’s not about a conflict between artists and audience. This is the showcase the industry raucously propels for years. It is their interests that can be brought together in the most wonderful ways online.

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Upcoming topics in music, copyright & marketing at ContentSphere

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:48:00 +0200

Having conceptualised a good part of Berlin music conference all2gethernow's discussion topics (and organised even more), I suddenly find myself with heaps of thoughts and content not published on ContentSphere. Even worse, ContentSphere has been almost plain blank while working on those topics.
It just would be a shame to not make use of it. More than that, these topics are dealing with issues and they are raising questions. I contributed them to a2n because of their relevance in today’s music business.

The abstracts of those topics you will find on a2n’s schedule which is still accessible. The link to each of them I added to the list below. I’m trying to flesh out at least some of them in the near future to give you a bigger picture of what I intended them to be.

As you might have guessed, I was able to witness only very, very few of the events I drafted. But a large number of a2n’s discussions have been streamed, which makes me curiously waiting for the finalised and edited videos. I hope them to be published soon as a part of our documentation, so I can add the actual video of the discussions to my articles.

But – what are those topics and issues I contributed to a2n? Let’s see:

Please don’t get me wrong – the storyline might have been set by me for those panels and workshops. Though, it has been the moderators and speakers who did a brilliant job in breathing life into some sketched out thoughts.

You want to know which ones didn’t make it? Here they are. At least the ones I drafted.

Reforming copyright: Necessity or nonsense?
Collecting societies - foot on the brake or guardian of the Holy Grail?
YouTube - whuzznotup? The Black Screen of Death on behalf of GEMA.
Fail & Success - are traditionel business models the only to survive?
Branded art - when music becomes added value
DIY is a dead end
DIY marketing: The real world
DIY and direct-to-fan marketing - cameo role or serious market factor?
Direct-to-fan marketing
Artists’ perfect 10 in digital distribution - how does the perfect platform look like?
No charts, no breaking - what does it take to become a “breaking artist”?
Workshop: Site design for artists
Fuhgettabout the producer - we can do that ourselves!
Music production on iPhone/iPad? WTF or OMG?
Technology for the masses - does common access increase music quality?
Convergence or transition: About TV, internet & hybrids.
Music collecting: No options to revamp a bad habit beloved?

Why they did they fail? It’s been the usual reasons. Cancellations, invitations not being answered, and most of all - too much content. Some issues were merged and survived, others had to be abandoned. But, you never know… you like some of the ideas and would have loved to see the panel? Please tell me. I’d appreciate it.

Looks like an awful lot of work. Happy to do it. Gonna be fun.

all2gethernow 2010: Out Now - Free Sampler With Creative Commons Licensed Music

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:47:00 +0200

(CC BY-NC-SA) by all2gethernow

Just a quick note out to everyone interested in good music for free private use, licensed under Creative Commons.

For all2gethernow 2010 (a2n), I contacted a few guys from the German netlabel community plus some artists and teamed up compiling this sampler. It includes various styles of music, from electronics to singer/songwriter stuff. But, you should take a listen for yourself. It’s a treat.

Download from Finetunes by filling in the code a2ncc2010 - and there you go. Available at Finetunes until 30th September only.

In case you encounter any problems, download the zip file here for free! (zip file, 144,3 MB, all tracks 320 kbit/s, incl. cover picture) - temporary host… no code, direct link.

Right now, it’s only available at Free Music Archive - and what a great host THAT is. (Thanks to Jason!)

Here’s the tracklist:

Shlohmo - Socks [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Bitbasic - The Lack Of Anything Good [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Entertainment For The Braindead - Relapse [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Pixelord - Cybernator [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Small Radio - Excellenti [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Raziel Jamaerah - Flow 4 Ever / 1Time2TheBeat [CC BY-SA 3.0]
Giraffe - 4am [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
The Inventors Of Aircraft - The Tower [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0]
Emilie Lund - Sad Blue Mountain [CC BY-NC 3.0]
Damian Valles - A Wake Pattern [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0]
Derrick Hart - You’re Winning So I Quit [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
/’angstalt/ - wie weich [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Zoe.LeelA - U.G.L.Y. [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]

Involved (net)labels: 12rec., aaahh records, Error Broadcast, Resting Bell, P-Pack Records, rec72, Weisser Herbst.

Many thanks to the label owners, artists and people who supported the project - in alphabetical order: Danny Bruder (P-Pack Records), Christian Giering (Finetunes), Oke Göttlich (Finetunes), Christian Grasse (aaahh records), Zoe.LeelA, Marco Medkour (rec72), meik michalke (/’angstalt/, Open Music Contest), Matthias Quellmann (Finetunes), Roland (Machtdose Podcast), Christian Roth (Resting Bell), Moritz “mo.” Sauer (Phlow.net), Sim Sullen (12rec.), Sven Swift (12rec./Error Broadcast), Thomas Ternes (tompigs.com).

Free Music Archive Hosts all2gethernow Compilation of Creative Commons Music

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:37:00 +0200

Recently, I introduced you to all2gethernow’s Creative Commons’ compilation. I told you, we soon would change the main host for the files - due to GEMA (Germany’s collecting society). Hosting the files myself would make my blog a shop - even if the download’s for free. Plus I would have to report the hosting to GEMA, despite the fact it’s all Creative Commons music. It’s crazy but it’s a fact.

And here we are! At the a2n event, I met Jason Sigal. He’s the man behind Free Music Archive. FMA is based on a brilliant idea: archiving free music under making it accessible at a kind of one-stop service. He opened the archive for our compilation of Creative Commons music and invited us to being hosted at Free Music Archive. More than that - he blogged an article featuring all2gethernow. Thank you Jason.

I changed the link to all2gethernow’s Creative Commons music compilation in my post, but here it is once more for direct access at FMA.

Just have a look yourself at the whole thing - currently, there are about 25.000 (!) songs available at FMA. It’s legal, and it’s free. All curated by different people like netlabels of course, Creative Commons, and a whole bunch of others. So you will only find selected content. Music that is worth listening to. There’s charts, information on the artists etc. - it’s beautifully done by people like Jason. Guys who love what they’re doing.

Take your time and enjoy FMA.

all2gethernow 2010 wants your feedback!

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:57:00 +0200

For those of you who haven’t noticed – again it’s been time for all2gethernow (a2n). This has been the reason for having a time-out with ContentSphere.

Frankly, everything you are reading here of course is supposed to be taken with a grain of salt. Why? Well, from curating and/or moderating two or three discussions in 2009 plus placing a good number of speakers, I shifted up some gears in 2010 at full throttle – and found myself sharing the task of being in charge of Programme and Content together with my good friend Andrea Goetzke.

The numbers (last year’s numbers in brackets):

5 (3) days
130 (60) discussions, presentations and workshops
250 (130) speakers
2.000 (1.000) attendees

The full programme featuring seven theme tracks can still be found online. We are working on the documentation right now and got some marvellous feedback.

Taking place for the second year now, the Berlin music conference has changed its face in many ways. In my humble opinion it’s been a great week from 6-10 September. There are some issues to work on, some new concepts to keep, and a few ideas from 2009 which should be revived.

You might easily imagine this is not the right place to mention all our speakers. Just to give you an idea: Jill Sobule, Martin Atkins (Invisible Records / Tour:Smart), Tim Clark (ie:music), Mike Masnick (TechDirt), Martin Thörnkvist (SongsIWish), Jason Sigal (FreeMusicArchive), Rupert Hine (Producer), Dave Haynes (Soundcloud), Mark Chung (Freibank), Dieter Gorny (BVMI), Nancy Baym (onlinefandom.com), Micki Krimmel (NeighborGoods.net / Mickipedia), Zoe Keating, Steve Lawson, Reinhold Heil & Johnny Klimek (film composers for “Run Lola Run”, “The International”, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”, “One Hour Photo”)… plus a whole bunch more.

Maybe you remember that in 2009, all2gethernow stepped in when Popkomm 2009 had been cancelled. We declared our concept to be based on a bottom-up approach – targeting musicians, startups and social media people as well as fans, but also higher level business. Yet, though trying to establish a kind of round-table to talk about how to improve the cultural business’ crisis most executives ignored the event.

a2n became Popkomm’s counterpart. Its competitor. You had to declare who’s side you were to join. Unfortunately, though causing some media attention the result didn’t fully match our approach – all2gethernow. If you want to change anything to improve any stakeholder’s situation in music business you have to take into account everyone’s view.

B-A-N-G. 2010.

For the first time, the City of Berlin announced establishing a “Berlin Music Week” - similar to the successful “Berlin Fashion Week”. It was the usual suspects who were invited to take part: Berlin Music Commission, Berlin Club Commission, Berlin Festival, and Popkomm.

… and all2gethernow. - - - WHAT?!?

Ok, it wasn’t that easy, but somehow we managed to find our roles. While Popkomm was in charge of the trade show, all2gethernow handled the entire conference itself.

I apologise if I’m overly explicit in stressing out the fact that both are two entirely separate entities taking care of different tasks – but it’s a necessity. Even Billboard got it wrong. The communication of the complex network of entities within Berlin Music Week admittedly was just too confusing for anyone to understand.

Fact is: Conference 2010 = all2gethernow.

We listened to visitors and speakers alike, and we already have a number of issues identified to avoid in the future. Also, we are working on structure and concept. I can’t disclose anything yet, but rest assured your feedback is highly valuable and it’s been heard.

So you were there? Please contact me: senges[at]a-2-n.com

Support us in building the next all2gethernow. YOUR all2gethernow.

In particular, we would like to involve more musicians, artists, songwriters. Which are the issues you want to hear more about? What opportunities do you want to be offered? Which services do you like to see?

Actually, question is – what is it that would make you attend all2gethernow? Why didn’t you attend this year? There’s no reason in staging a music conference if musicians won’t attend.

Oh yeah – please do write as well if you’re not from Germany. Other than this year, we entirely will go international next year. German language events will be strictly exceptional.